Empire of Democracy
The Remaking of the West since the Cold War, 1971-2017
Published on 6. August 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
880 pages
978-1-4736-7057-0 (ISBN)
Description
'A dense narrative and a wealth of examples' Literary Review
'Reid-Henry narrates this story with elegance and gusto' Washington Post
'[Reid-Henry] conveys an important message: Individual political action must become accountable to society's interests' Kirkus
'Reid-Henry's scholarship is impressive, gathering a wide range of historical anecdotes and referencing a diverse set of thinkers' Publishers Weekly
The first panoramic history of the Western world from the 1970s to the present day: Empire of Democracy is the story for those asking how we got to where we are.
In this epic narrative of the events that have shaped our own times, Simon Reid-Henry shows how liberal democracy, and Western history with it, was profoundly re-imagined when the postwar Golden Age ended. As the institutions of liberal rule were reinvented, a new generation of politicians emerged: Thatcher, Reagan, Mitterrand, Kohl. The late twentieth-century heyday they oversaw carried the Western democracies triumphantly to victory in the C old War and into the economic boom of the 1990s. But equally it led them into the fiasco of Iraq, to the high drama of the financial crisis in 2007/8, and ultimately to the anti-liberal surge of our own times.
The present crisis of liberalism enjoins us to revisit these as yet unscripted decades. The era we have all been living through is closing out, democracy is turning on its axis once again. As this panoramic history poignantly reminds us, the choices we make going forward require us first to come to terms with where we have been.
'Reid-Henry narrates this story with elegance and gusto' Washington Post
'[Reid-Henry] conveys an important message: Individual political action must become accountable to society's interests' Kirkus
'Reid-Henry's scholarship is impressive, gathering a wide range of historical anecdotes and referencing a diverse set of thinkers' Publishers Weekly
The first panoramic history of the Western world from the 1970s to the present day: Empire of Democracy is the story for those asking how we got to where we are.
In this epic narrative of the events that have shaped our own times, Simon Reid-Henry shows how liberal democracy, and Western history with it, was profoundly re-imagined when the postwar Golden Age ended. As the institutions of liberal rule were reinvented, a new generation of politicians emerged: Thatcher, Reagan, Mitterrand, Kohl. The late twentieth-century heyday they oversaw carried the Western democracies triumphantly to victory in the C old War and into the economic boom of the 1990s. But equally it led them into the fiasco of Iraq, to the high drama of the financial crisis in 2007/8, and ultimately to the anti-liberal surge of our own times.
The present crisis of liberalism enjoins us to revisit these as yet unscripted decades. The era we have all been living through is closing out, democracy is turning on its axis once again. As this panoramic history poignantly reminds us, the choices we make going forward require us first to come to terms with where we have been.
Reviews / Votes
Formidably ambitious... boldly attempts to paint a thematic portrait of the world's democracies and delivers an argument that leaders grounded these political structures on free-market economics... There is much to admire in Reid-Henry's book * Financial Times * Brilliantly, Reid-Henry calls for the salvation of democracy from the choices of its own leaders - if it is to survive * Samuel Moyn, Yale University * [Empire of Democracy] yields insights that help us understand our present and imagine the possibilities of our future... The frontiers of the future can sometimes be discerned by studying the plains of our past. This book allows the reader to do both. * Sunday Business Post Ireland * A monumental and nuanced history of the past half-century * Irish Times * Simon Reid-Henry has written a superbly informed and riveting historical analysis of our contemporary era, which opened in the 1970s and, as he brilliantly demonstrates, continues to transform the premises of Western democracies * Charles S. Maier, Harvard University * Praise for Fidel and Che * . * As exciting and readable as a Cold War thriller * The Times * Gripping . . . deeply impressive . . . rigorously sourced * Independent * A lucid, pulsating study . . . skilfully drawn * Economist * Absorbing * Sunday Times * Reid-Henry makes the case for seeing our recent past as a distinct period, as well as showing that this era is drawing to a close. He does this convincingly, stylishly and with verve. This is as good a general account as we have of democracy's dysfunctions and discontents over the last 50 years, and a significant improvement on most of the books published recently on our current disorders... in this fine book he has at least provided some starting points for thinking about what we need to do next to overcomes the morbid systems of our age and build something new. * Irish Examiner *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
601 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4736-7057-0 (9781473670570)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2019
John Murray Learning
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Simon Reid-Henry is a writer and prize-winner scholar. Associate Professor at Queen Mary, University of London, he holds a joint position as a Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo.